How to Tell a Fertile vs INfertile Egg (Pictures)

[speckledhen]

There isn't a specific week, but mine seem to become fertile somewhere between 16-18 weeks old.

 

[shmooborp]

YAY!! so im close !! woohooo ! ima start checking my eggs hehehe.. even tho i havent SEEN them mate .. but i dont watch them every second so its possible that they have

 

[RW19290]

Quote:
no, the first is not.

 

[tmb3fan]

I just happened to be reading this sticky (for the first time), when my son brought an egg in, that he had slightly cracked. It seems as though every half dozen he collects, he cracks at least one. Anyway, I figured I might as well take a look. I put it in a clear dish, but I still had to roll it around before I found the spot. It wasn't much bigger than the infertile dot, but this one had a definate halo around the dot. The halo was about 1/16 of an inch out from the dot.
I am so glad to see a fertile egg, since I didn't think my roos knew what they were doing. Everytime I see them going at it, they are on the hen sideways. Guess I just have kinky chickens.

Thanks so much for this thread!

Teri

 

[Preservation Acres]

This was a great thread. I learned so much.

So here's my question. If blood spots are from broken blood vessels, and they have nothing to do with fertilization, then why is it that you only tend to see them in free range chicken eggs and not in store bought eggs?

 

[JudyMcKinn]

Because they candle the store eggs, and take out the ones with blood spots.

 

[GardeNerd]

I'm really new to all this. I couldn't easily tell the difference. Then I opened 10 out of a dozen grocery store eggs labeled "fertile" eggs. 4 of them looked fertile like the photos. The rest had smaller dots. Thanks for the great info.

* I guess the grocery store eggs aren't quite the 80% fertile that they label them. More like 40%. I got them from Trader Joes for a kids science project.

 

[Chic Chick]

Another question from a newbie....I just let my EE roo back in with his girls and of course he got right to doing his job. Now how soon will the hens be laying fertile eggs that I can keep for hatching?
I apologise if I missed reading the answer posted somewhere already.
CC

 

[speckledhen]

If he mates them successfully, a hen will produce fertile eggs within a couple of days. Sometimes the roosters aren't that great with technique, especially with certain hens, so it could take longer, depending.

 

[katrinag]

I would wait a week. You can always crack open a couple in a few days and see.